Fire chief looks to improve Campbell’s rating

By jeanne starmack

starmack@vindy.com

campbell

The fire chief is hoping an agency that rates municipalities’ fire services for insurance companies has enough information from him now to improve the city’s rating.

Campbell’s rating fell from a 6 to a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10 two years ago.

That caused insurance premiums to rise for residents and businesses in the city which buy insurance from companies that rely on the Insurance Services Office’s data.

The rating fell because the fire department did not have enough manpower and did not have sufficient training records, ISO told the city.

There were not enough firefighters in the department to ensure four on a call. Training wasn’t being done because the firefighters train as a unit, and there weren’t enough people to attend sessions, Fire Chief Nick Herlec said.

He told city council at its meeting Wednesday, however, that he is hoping to hear from ISO next week about a date for a new review of the city services.

Herlec said the city now has 11 volunteer and five paid firefighters.

He said they have been training twice a month and he was able to send a year’s worth of records plus six months’ worth of fire-response reports to ISO.

Other factors, such as a new firetruck that the department is expected to have next week and an automatic mutual-aid agreement with Coitsville, should play in the city’s favor, he said.

“We upped manpower and upped training,” he said. “To me, alone, that should be enough [for ISO] to come back.”

ISO reviews services once every seven years unless it’s asked to come in sooner, he said.